RUSSIA'S FIRST PRIVATE SPACE SATELLITE SET FOR LAUNCH - The first private Russian space satellite is set to launch in February and will leverage commonly used "cloud computing" and mobile phone technology to generate potentially huge profits for its investors, The Wall Street Journal reported. "In 2015 we are anticipating a certain percentage of revenue coming from the cloud platform," Ilya Golubovich, a venture capitalist whose firm has invested $20 million in the satellite's manufacturer Dauria, told The Wall Street Journal.   More
(Source: Space Daily - Oct 28)

IT'S RAINING SATELLITE: EUROPE'S GRAVITY FIELD EXPLORER TO FALL BACK TO EARTH IN TWO WEEKS - A one-ton European Space Agency satellite, which for four years has being mapping the Earth's gravity, has run out of fuel and will reenter the atmosphere in two weeks. While its descent is constantly monitored, the impact location is still unknown. The ESA's Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), which was launched from Russia in March 2009, managed to spend 2 1/2 more years on its mission than was initially expected. During these extra years of work, it was taken to the lowest altitude orbit of any research satellite to capture the gravity data of unequalled accuracy.   More
(Source: Space Daily - Oct 28)

WORLD EUROPE'S ATV-4 SPACE FREIGHTER TO UNDOCK FROM ISS - Europe's ATV-4 space freighter will undock from the International Space Station ('SS) on Monday and will enter the Earth's atmosphere five days later, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The space freighter, which carried a record amount of cargo among all ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) spacecraft and became the heaviest ever payload carried by an Ariane rocket, will set another record on Monday. It will take the largest ever amount of waste from the orbital station. A series of maneuvers will be carried out in the next five days to position the spacecraft exactly 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) below the station. The reentry procedure is slated to begin around noon GMT on November 2.   More
(Source: RIA Novosti - Oct 28)

PROTON-M LAUNCHES WITH SIRIUS FM-6 SATELLITE - International Launch Services (ILS) have conducted another launch of the Russian Proton-M launch vehicle, this time carrying the Sirius FM-6 satellite on a multi-hour flight to its transfer orbit. Launch from the from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was on time at 18:08 GMT, the second flight of the Proton since its dramatic failure earlier in the year. Proton-M: The Proton booster launching the Sirius FM-6 satellite is 4.1 m (13.5 ft) in diameter along its second and third stages, with a first stage diameter of 7.4 m (24.3 ft). Overall height of the three stages of the Proton booster is 42.3 m (138.8 ft).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 26)

SPACE TRASH IS A BIG PROBLEM. THESE ECONOMISTS HAVE A SOLUTION. - Space is getting messy. The amount of debris in Earth's orbit keeps growing each year, disrupting satellites and occasionally putting astronauts in harm's way. If the problem gets severe enough, it could eventually make low-earth orbit unusable. Scientists have been worrying about space trash since the 1970s.   More
(Source: Washington Post - Oct 25)

CYGNUS SPACECRAFT LEAVES INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, WILL BURN UP IN ATMOSPHERE - The first privately built Cygnus cargo ship to visit the International Space Station detached from the orbiting lab Tuesday (Oct. 22) and is poised to destroy itself in Earth's atmosphere in a fiery finale to its successful test flight. The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., was released by astronauts using the station's robotic arm at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT) as both space vehicles sailed high above the Atlantic Ocean, east of Argentina. The spacecraft is expected to fire its rocket thrusters Wednesday (Oct. 23) to leave orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere.   More
(Source: CBS News - Oct 23)

CYGNUS CARGO CRAFT READIES TO LEAVE SPACE STATION - A private cargo ship built by Orbital Sciences Corporation is preparing to leave the International Space Station early Tuesday and burn up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, NASA said Monday. The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to detach from the orbiting research outpost at 1000 GMT Tuesday and leave the ISS an hour and a half later. "Orbital engineers then will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere," NASA said in a statement.    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Oct 22)

TAKEOFF OF PROTON LV WITH US SATELLITE MAY BE PUT OFF UNTIL OCT 25 - The takeoff of the Russian Proton-M launch vehicle with the US communication satellite Sirius FM-6 may be put off until October at the request of the US side,according to the Interfax citing a source at the cosmodrome on Monday. "There is the motion of the US side on rescheduling the launch to October 25. The State Commission will handle the message on Monday," the source said.    More
(Source: The Voice of Russia - Oct 22)

ESA'S GOCE MISSION COMES TO AN END - After mapping variations in Earth's gravity with unprecedented detail for four years, the GOCE satellite has run out of fuel and the end of mission has been declared. Since March 2009, the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer - GOCE - has been orbiting Earth at the lowest altitude of any research satellite. Its "gradiometer" - the sensitive instrument measuring gravity in 3D - was the first in space and has mapped variations in Earth's gravity with unrivalled precision. The result is a unique model of the "geoid", which is essentially the shape of an ideal global ocean at rest and therefore critical for accurate measurements of ocean circulation and sea-level change.    More
(Source: ESA Press Release - Oct 21)

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